Former Pretty Little Liars actor Tyler Blackburn recently talked with Entertainment Weekly about the same-sex relationship his character, Alex, has on the new CW show Roswell, New Mexico with extraterrestrial jaded genius Michael. In part, Blackburn said, "I feel like the coolest thing that made this very relevant was all of the different topics that were covered, including Alex being gay, including him being in the Air Force as a gay man, his struggle with his own identity and his struggle with his own emotions toward someone who he feels like he can't really be with easily."
Ellen Page spoke out about Jussie Smollett after going viral for her thoughts on the alleged hate crime back before all the new developments, JustJared.com noted. The actress penned a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter, writing, in part, "The conversation around Jussie Smollett has led us all to examine hate violence and its implications and aftermath. I had no reason to doubt Jussie. ... While the media and public debate the case and await more information, we must not lose sight of the very real, endemic violence that LGBTQ+ people, people of color and other underrepresented communities face every day."
RadarOnline.com has learned that Vogue editor Anna Wintour's former friend Isaac Mizrahi has accused her of body-shaming him. In his new memoir, I.M., Mizrahi ripped the lid off of his 30-year long friendship with Wintour, claiming that Wintour often poked fun at him over his weight. Despite the painful memories Mizrahi endured in his professional and personal relationships with Wintour, he admitted he's still appreciative to have worked with her.
Musician Annie Lennox—known as half of the pop duo Eurythmics as well as a successful solo artist in her own right—will bring her personal possessions to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art for a very intimate solo installation this spring, ArtNet.com noted. Titled "Now I Let You Go…," the exhibition, which will open May 25, will feature a towering earthen mound that will spill across two galleries. Various objects selected by Lennox—memorabilia, found objects and personal effects—will be partially buried in the dirt as a rumination on the inevitability of death. On May 25, the singer will also perform at the museum in celebration of its 20th anniversary; visit massmoca.org/event/annie-lennox/ .
The movie Cruel Intentions will be back in theaters for its 20th anniversary for one week only starting March 22, according to a Sony Pictures press release.This version of Dangerous Liaisons stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon, Selma Blair and Joshua Jackson.
Janet Jackson announced her Las Vegas residency, Metamorphosis, according to Billboard.com . The show will set up at the Park Theater at the Park MGM resort beginning May 17; the 15-show run is currently slated to run through Aug. 10. A statement said the show will feature "electrifying visuals, explosive dance numbers, chart-topping hits and fan favorite deep cuts" as well as "a special 30-year anniversary celebration of her ground-breaking album Rhythm Nation."
On April 19, the vinyl, half-speed master release of the Scissor Sisters eponymous 2004 album, by UMe/Polydor, will take place, according to a press release. Reaching number one on its release, it was the best-selling album of 2004 in the United Kingdom, where it went nine-times platinum. Scissor Sisters formed in New York in the early 2000s with Jake Shears and Ana Matronic on vocals, multi-instrumentalist Babydaddy, Del Marquis on lead guitar/bass and Randy Real ( who replaced Paddy Boom ) on drums. The band first rose to prominence on the release of their Grammy-nominated and chart-topping disco version of "Comfortably Numb" and a 2004 debut album.
Ben J. Pierce has been cast as the lead in Glamorous—the first U.S. TV show with a gender non-conforming protagonist, NewNowNext.com noted. Desperate Housewives alum Eva Longoria will direct the pilot. Pierce, 20, has been cast as Marcos, a gender non-conforming recent high school graduate who starts interning at a cosmetics company whose products they previously panned on YouTube, according to Deadline.
Barbra Streisand snubbed A Star Is Born at the Oscars by choosing to instead introduce Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman as a nominee for Best Picture, Page Six stated. After she starred in the 1976 version of A Star Is Born, Streisand won the Oscar for Best Original Song for "Evergreen"—the same award Lady Gaga netted with her current hit, "Shallow." Streisand adored Lee's latest, tweeting in May, "I just saw an amazing film—it is so brilliant and so timely!" and then plugged the film again when it was released in August. ( She also likes the newest A Star Is Born. )
Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino will co-write HBO miniseries tentatively titled We Are Who We Are, Gay Star News noted. The eight-part drama will follow two teens embarking on a journey of self-discovery one summer in an Italian military base. According to a description of the plot from an article in The Observer, "Fraser is actually missing his friend from home, Mark, while also developing an innocent romantic connection with an older soldier named Jason."
The Michigan House Transportation Committee unanimously approved a bill that will rename a portion of M-10 in Detroit—better known as the Lodge Freeway—for the late singer Aretha Franklin, Detroit Free Press noted. Franklin's niece Sabrina Garrett Owens told the committee that her aunt would be "ecstatic and filled with joy" by the designation. The stretch of M-10, beginning at the intersection with Livernois Avenue and extending south to the intersection with I-94, would be known as the "Aretha L. Franklin Memorial Highway."
As Cher prepares to return to Las Vegas for her "Classic Cher" engagement at Las Vegas' Park Theater at Park MGM, six new shows shave been added, a press release stated. The additional show dates, scheduled Aug. 21-Sept. 1— will go on sale to the public beginning Friday, March 8, at 10 a.m. PT. Tickets can be purchased at ParkTheaterLV.com or Ticketmaster.com .
The New Jersey travel and tourism board has created the Anthony Bourdain Food Trail—an homage to the Jersey-born chef, who grew up in Leonia—featuring 10 of the restaurants he visited for a 2015 episode of his CNN travel and food show Parts Unknown, MarketWatch.com noted. New Jersey Assemblyman Paul Moriarty first introduced the idea for an official Anthony Bourdain Food Trail in honor of the writer and travel host in 2018, shortly after Bourdain's death June 8.
Luke Perry died after suffering a massive stroke Feb. 27, Deadline.com reported. The 52-year-old starred as Archie's dad, Fred Andrews, on Riverdale, and had been shooting episodes recently in L.A. on the Warner Bros. lot. Perry's medical crisis coincidentally struck on the very same day Fox announced it will reboot Beverly Hills, 90210—the show on which he shot to fame, playing Dylan McKay. Riverdale has temporarily shut down production.
Drummer Andy Anderson—best known for his stint with The Cure—has died at 68, EW.com noted. Anderson announced his terminal cancer diagnosis on Facebook only recently, writing, "I have Terminal 4 Cancer, and there is no way of returning back from that, it's totally covering the inside of my body, and I'm totally fine and aware of my situation I've gone for a no resuscitation."
The Jonas Brothers have announced their return to music, in a press release. Marking the band's first original release in nearly six years, and debut under their new partnership with Republic Records, their comeback single "Sucker" has been released. As part of their resurgence, The Jonas Brothers have launched a special week-long takeover of The Late Late Show with James Corden.
After five years, actor Zachary Quinto and model Miles McMillan have gone their separate ways, JustJared.com reported. "They amicably split earlier this year," a source told People. Recently, the former pair both stepped out for separate Oscars parties: Quinto attended the Vanity Fair party while McMillan stopped by Elton John's event.
A toxicology report is underway for Hollywood legend Clark Gable's grandson and Cheaters co-host Clark Gable III, who died recently at age 30, Radar Online noted. His body was discovered Feb. 22 inside the Dallas home he shared with his girlfriend. Radar previously reported that Gable had a history with drug abuse before he passed away. His longtime ex-girlfriend, Heather Chadwell, said that while she was with him, he "would disappear for days on end."
Oprah Winfrey is standing by the two men who are accusing the late Michael Jackson of sexual abuse in the new documentary, Leaving Neverland, People.com noted. In the documentary, Wade Robson, 36, and James Safechuck, 40, allege Jackson repeatedly molested them as boys. For an interview special with the accusers—which aired immediately following the documentary's debutr on March 3—the talk-show host said that after watching the documentary she called the film's director and producer, Dan Reed, to say that he had succeeded in illustrating what she had tried to explain about sexual abuse in 217 episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show over 25 years.
Fresh from his Academy Award win for Bohemian Rhapsody, Rami Malek is set to sign up as the lead villain in Bond 25, the much-delayed new 007 film that is due to be Daniel Craig's last outing in the role, The Guardian noted. Malek had been under consideration for some time, but Variety had reported in December that his work schedule on the final season of Mr. Robot—the TV series in which he plays a computer hacker with an anxiety disorder—meant he was unable to do both. Now, however, it appears he will be accommodated.
Speaking of Daniel Craig, he will star in a one-night-only benefit reading on March 10 of Caryl Churchill's A Number as part of New York Theatre Workshop's 40th anniversary, Deadline noted. Craig—set for the upcoming installment of the James Bond movie franchise Bond 25—appeared in the world premiere London production of A Number in 2002.
On an episode of Live with Kelly and Ryan, Kelly Ripa and co-host Ryan Seacrest were discussing the importance of texting someone before you FaceTime them when Ripa revealed that she had "lived that nightmare," People.com noted. She then revealed that she once FaceTimed with Bravo's Andy Cohen—while she was naked in a locker room. But it turned out he was in public and with a large group of people when Ripa answered.
Speaking of Cohen, the Watch What Happens Live host has been spotted on dating apps Scruff and Grindr—even after adopting a baby a few weeks ago, Page Six noted. "He uses a picture of his chest as his main image and refers to himself as 'Coach Taylor,'" a Friday Night Lights reference, a source said. Cohen revealed to Ellen DeGeneres last year that he was repeatedly being kicked off Grindr because the app thought he was an impersonator.
With his new role as Negative Man in DC's Doom Patrol, Matt Bomer is bringing positive queer representation to the world of superheroes, NewNowNext.com noted. In the comics, Bomer's character, Larry Trainor, is exposed to radiation during a military test flight and develops the power to project a negatively charged energy being from his body. However, while there's no queer undertone in the comics, the TV version has Trainor seeing a male lover secretly on base—even though he had a wife and two boys waiting for him back home.
Lance Bass is developing a road-trip comedy film about two girls who devoutly followed NSYNC on the band's final tour, Page Six noted. "It's a really fun story about these girls that win a Winnebago on The Price is Right and follow us on tour—which randomly happened," Bass, a member of NSYNC, told Variety. Bass is adapting the project through his eponymous production company, which is about to hit the SXSW film festival with the documentary The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story.
Former Today host Tamron Hall announced on social media that she is 32 weeks pregnant with her first child—and that she's married to a man named Steven, ExtraTV.com noted. Hall shared a video of herself showing off her baby bump while dancing to "Baby Shark." She told followers, "I'm about to be a mommy shark very soon." Also, Hall will debut her new syndicated daytime talk show, Tamron Hall, on Sept. 19.
Luna Lauren Velez, one of the core cast members of the original 1990s Dick Wolf cop drama New York Undercover, is set to reprise her role as Nina Moreno in the series reboot, which has a pilot order at ABC, Deadline.com noted. Velez is joining another "Undercover" alum, star Malik Yoba, who will again play J.C. Williams like in the original series.
German site Ratiopharm Arena canceled its contract with the organizer of an R. Kelly tour—days after the R&B star was charged in the United States with sexually abusing four people, including three underage girls, dating back to 1998, Billboard.com noted. "We regret the fans' understandable disappointment and ask them to turn to the tour's organizer" regarding possible reimbursement of their tickets, Ratiopharm Arena wrote.
